Deduplication of encrypted data within a remote data store

ABSTRACT

Techniques are provided for deduplicating encrypted data. For example, a device has data to store in an encrypted state within a remote data store. A key is used to encrypt the data to create encrypted data. The data is hashed to create hashed data and the encrypted data is hashed to create hashed encrypted data. A probabilistic data structure of the data is generated. The key is encrypted based upon the data to create an encrypted key. The encrypted data is transmitted to the remote data store, along with metadata comprising the hashed data, the hashed encrypted data, the probabilistic data structure, and the encrypted key. The metadata may be used to implement deduplication for subsequent requests, to store data within the remote data store, with respect to the encrypted data.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/374,787, titled “DEDUPLICATION OF ENCRYPTED DATAWITHIN A REMOTE DATA STORE” and filed on Apr. 4, 2019, which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Many users are storing data within remote data stores, such as a cloudcomputing environment or any other computing environment/architectureaccessible over a network to devices. For example, users may backupemail data, store videos, store files, maintain business data, and/or avariety of other data within remote data stores. Each user may utilizetheir own key for encrypting data before the data is transmitted to aremote data store, thus improving security for the data duringtransmission over a network to the remote data store. Encryptiongenerally attempts to reduce the frequency of the same data withinencrypted data to improve security against frequency based attacks andcryptanalysis. Because of this, encrypted data provides poordeduplication and compression ratios because deduplication andcompression look for higher relative frequency of the same data so thatthe same data can be easily deduplicated or compressed.

Because the remote data store is receiving encrypted data from devicesof users that may use different keys for encryption that are not sharedwith the remote data store, the remote data store is unable to decryptthe encrypted data in order to perform deduplication and compressionthat would provide desirable deduplication and compression ratios. Thus,the remote data store may store a lot of redundant encrypted data, whichwastes significant amounts of storage resources (e.g., multiple usersmay upload the same video, multiple users may be associated with thesame email attachment, etc.).

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a component block diagram illustrating an example clusterednetwork in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a component block diagram illustrating an example data storagesystem in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an example method for deduplicatingencrypted data.

FIG. 4A is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data.

FIG. 4B is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where encrypted data is created.

FIG. 4C is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where hashed data and hashed encrypteddata is created.

FIG. 4D is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where a probabilistic data structure iscreated.

FIG. 4E is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where an encrypted key is created.

FIG. 4F is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where encrypted data and metadata istransmitted to a remote data store.

FIG. 4G is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where hashed data is created andtransmitted to a remote data store.

FIG. 4H is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where a remote data store requests indicesof data.

FIG. 4I is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where indices of data are created andtransmitted to a remote data store.

FIG. 4J is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where an encrypted key is received from aremote data store.

FIG. 4K is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where an encrypted key is decrypted usingdata to obtain a key.

FIG. 4L is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where a key is used to encrypt data tocreate encrypted data.

FIG. 4M is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where hashed encrypted data is created andtransmitted to a remote data store.

FIG. 4N is a component block diagram illustrating an example system fordeduplicating encrypted data, where a remote data store deduplicatesencrypted data.

FIG. 5 is an example of a computer readable medium in which anembodiment of the invention may be implemented.

FIG. 6 is a component block diagram illustrating an example computingenvironment in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some examples of the claimed subject matter are now described withreference to the drawings, where like reference numerals are generallyused to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description,for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide an understanding of the claimed subject matter. It maybe evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practicedwithout these specific details. Nothing in this detailed description isadmitted as prior art.

A remote data store, such as a cloud computing environment or any othercomputing environment remotely accessible to devices over a network, mayreceive and store encrypted data from the devices. Each user of theremote data store may utilize their own key for encryption, which iskept secret from the remote data store and/or other users (e.g., theremote data store may be an untrusted 3^(rd) party service notcontrolled by and executing on computers owned by a user). The remotedata store is unable to adequately deduplicate and/or compress encrypteddata because encrypted data does not provide good deduplication andcompression ratios (e.g., encryption will increase entropy of data,which is an undesirable characteristic for obtaining good deduplicationand compression ratios). Thus, the remote data store may wastesubstantial amounts of storage resources storing redundant data, such asthe same email attachments, videos, images, documents, or any other typeof data.

Accordingly, as provided herein, deduplication is provided by the remotedata store for encrypted data. Encryption and deduplication may beaccomplished using standard encryption techniques in a manner where auser's key is kept secret from the remote data store and other usersthat do not have the same data. The encrypted data is maintained withinthe remote data store in a manner that protects against plain textattacks. Security is enhanced because a mere hash of data is not enoughto show proof of ownership that another user has the same data alreadystored within the remote data store as another user. Because encrypteddata is being transmitted from devices to the remote data store,end-to-end encryption is provided. Deduplication is provided within theremote data store across encrypted data of multiple users in a securemanner because users must provide qualifying proof of data possessionbefore their data can be deduplicated with respect to data alreadystored within the remote data store. That is, a device and the remotedata store may exchange various metadata information in order todetermine whether the device is attempting to store data already storedas encrypted data within the remote data store. If the device and remotedata store successfully determine that the data is duplicate, the devicedoes not transmit the duplicate data to the remote data store, and theremote data store instead stores a reference on behalf of the device tothe already stored encrypted data, thus achieving deduplication ofencrypted data during transmission and storage.

To provide for deduplicating encrypted data, FIG. 1 illustrates anembodiment of a clustered network environment 100 or a network storageenvironment. It may be appreciated, however, that the techniques, etc.described herein may be implemented within the clustered networkenvironment 100, a non-cluster network environment, and/or a variety ofother computing environments, such as a desktop computing environment.That is, the instant disclosure, including the scope of the appendedclaims, is not meant to be limited to the examples provided herein. Itwill be appreciated that where the same or similar components, elements,features, items, modules, etc. are illustrated in later figures but werepreviously discussed with regard to prior figures, that a similar (e.g.,redundant) discussion of the same may be omitted when describing thesubsequent figures (e.g., for purposes of simplicity and ease ofunderstanding).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the clustered network environment100 that may implement at least some embodiments of the techniquesand/or systems described herein. The clustered network environment 100comprises data storage systems 102 and 104 that are coupled over acluster fabric 106, such as a computing network embodied as a privateInfiniband, Fibre Channel (FC), or Ethernet network facilitatingcommunication between the data storage systems 102 and 104 (and one ormore modules, component, etc. therein, such as, nodes 116 and 118, forexample). It will be appreciated that while two data storage systems 102and 104 and two nodes 116 and 118 are illustrated in FIG. 1, that anysuitable number of such components is contemplated. In an example, nodes116, 118 comprise storage controllers (e.g., node 116 may comprise aprimary or local storage controller and node 118 may comprise asecondary or remote storage controller) that provide client devices,such as host devices 108, 110, with access to data stored within datastorage devices 128, 130. Similarly, unless specifically providedotherwise herein, the same is true for other modules, elements,features, items, etc. referenced herein and/or illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. That is, a particular number of components,modules, elements, features, items, etc. disclosed herein is not meantto be interpreted in a limiting manner.

It will be further appreciated that clustered networks are not limitedto any particular geographic areas and can be clustered locally and/orremotely. Thus, In an embodiment a clustered network can be distributedover a plurality of storage systems and/or nodes located in a pluralityof geographic locations; while In an embodiment a clustered network caninclude data storage systems (e.g., 102, 104) residing in a samegeographic location (e.g., in a single onsite rack of data storagedevices).

In the illustrated example, one or more host devices 108, 110 which maycomprise, for example, client devices, personal computers (PCs),computing devices used for storage (e.g., storage servers), and othercomputers or peripheral devices (e.g., printers), are coupled to therespective data storage systems 102, 104 by storage network connections112, 114. Network connection may comprise a local area network (LAN) orwide area network (WAN), for example, that utilizes Network AttachedStorage (NAS) protocols, such as a Common Internet File System (CIFS)protocol or a Network File System (NFS) protocol to exchange datapackets, a Storage Area Network (SAN) protocol, such as Small ComputerSystem Interface (SCSI) or Fiber Channel Protocol (FCP), an objectprotocol, such as S3, etc. Illustratively, the host devices 108, 110 maybe general-purpose computers running applications, and may interact withthe data storage systems 102, 104 using a client/server model forexchange of information. That is, the host device may request data fromthe data storage system (e.g., data on a storage device managed by anetwork storage control configured to process I/O commands issued by thehost device for the storage device), and the data storage system mayreturn results of the request to the host device via one or more storagenetwork connections 112, 114.

The nodes 116, 118 on clustered data storage systems 102, 104 cancomprise network or host nodes that are interconnected as a cluster toprovide data storage and management services, such as to an enterprisehaving remote locations, cloud storage (e.g., a storage endpoint may bestored within a data cloud), etc., for example. Such a node in theclustered network environment 100 can be a device attached to thenetwork as a connection point, redistribution point or communicationendpoint, for example. A node may be capable of sending, receiving,and/or forwarding information over a network communications channel, andcould comprise any device that meets any or all of these criteria. Oneexample of a node may be a data storage and management server attachedto a network, where the server can comprise a general purpose computeror a computing device particularly configured to operate as a server ina data storage and management system.

In an example, a first cluster of nodes such as the nodes 116, 118(e.g., a first set of storage controllers configured to provide accessto a first storage aggregate comprising a first logical grouping of oneor more storage devices) may be located on a first storage site. Asecond cluster of nodes, not illustrated, may be located at a secondstorage site (e.g., a second set of storage controllers configured toprovide access to a second storage aggregate comprising a second logicalgrouping of one or more storage devices). The first cluster of nodes andthe second cluster of nodes may be configured according to a disasterrecovery configuration where a surviving cluster of nodes providesswitchover access to storage devices of a disaster cluster of nodes inthe event a disaster occurs at a disaster storage site comprising thedisaster cluster of nodes (e.g., the first cluster of nodes providesclient devices with switchover data access to storage devices of thesecond storage aggregate in the event a disaster occurs at the secondstorage site).

As illustrated in the clustered network environment 100, nodes 116, 118can comprise various functional components that coordinate to providedistributed storage architecture for the cluster. For example, the nodescan comprise network modules 120, 122 and disk modules 124, 126. Networkmodules 120, 122 can be configured to allow the nodes 116, 118 (e.g.,network storage controllers) to connect with host devices 108, 110 overthe storage network connections 112, 114, for example, allowing the hostdevices 108, 110 to access data stored in the distributed storagesystem. Further, the network modules 120, 122 can provide connectionswith one or more other components through the cluster fabric 106. Forexample, in FIG. 1, the network module 120 of node 116 can access asecond data storage device by sending a request through the disk module126 of node 118.

Disk modules 124, 126 can be configured to connect one or more datastorage devices 128, 130, such as disks or arrays of disks, flashmemory, or some other form of data storage, to the nodes 116, 118. Thenodes 116, 118 can be interconnected by the cluster fabric 106, forexample, allowing respective nodes in the cluster to access data on datastorage devices 128, 130 connected to different nodes in the cluster.Often, disk modules 124, 126 communicate with the data storage devices128, 130 according to the SAN protocol, such as SCSI or FCP, forexample. Thus, as seen from an operating system on nodes 116, 118, thedata storage devices 128, 130 can appear as locally attached to theoperating system. In this manner, different nodes 116, 118, etc. mayaccess data blocks through the operating system, rather than expresslyrequesting abstract files.

It should be appreciated that, while the clustered network environment100 illustrates an equal number of network and disk modules, otherembodiments may comprise a differing number of these modules. Forexample, there may be a plurality of network and disk modulesinterconnected in a cluster that does not have a one-to-onecorrespondence between the network and disk modules. That is, differentnodes can have a different number of network and disk modules, and thesame node can have a different number of network modules than diskmodules.

Further, a host device 108, 110 can be networked with the nodes 116, 118in the cluster, over the storage networking connections 112, 114. As anexample, respective host devices 108, 110 that are networked to acluster may request services (e.g., exchanging of information in theform of data packets) of nodes 116, 118 in the cluster, and the nodes116, 118 can return results of the requested services to the hostdevices 108, 110. In an embodiment, the host devices 108, 110 canexchange information with the network modules 120, 122 residing in thenodes 116, 118 (e.g., network hosts) in the data storage systems 102,104.

In an embodiment, the data storage devices 128, 130 comprise volumes132, which is an implementation of storage of information onto diskdrives or disk arrays or other storage (e.g., flash) as a file-systemfor data, for example. In an example, a disk array can include alltraditional hard drives, all flash drives, or a combination oftraditional hard drives and flash drives. Volumes can span a portion ofa disk, a collection of disks, or portions of disks, for example, andtypically define an overall logical arrangement of file storage on diskspace in the storage system. In an embodiment a volume can comprisestored data as one or more files that reside in a hierarchical directorystructure within the volume.

Volumes are typically configured in formats that may be associated withparticular storage systems, and respective volume formats typicallycomprise features that provide functionality to the volumes, such asproviding an ability for volumes to form clusters. For example, where afirst storage system may utilize a first format for their volumes, asecond storage system may utilize a second format for their volumes.

In the clustered network environment 100, the host devices 108, 110 canutilize the data storage systems 102, 104 to store and retrieve datafrom the volumes 132. In this embodiment, for example, the host device108 can send data packets to the network module 120 in the node 116within data storage system 102. The node 116 can forward the data to thedata storage device 128 using the disk module 124, where the datastorage device 128 comprises volume 132A. In this way, in this example,the host device can access the volume 132A, to store and/or retrievedata, using the data storage system 102 connected by the storage networkconnection 112. Further, in this embodiment, the host device 110 canexchange data with the network module 122 in the node 118 within thedata storage system 104 (e.g., which may be remote from the data storagesystem 102). The node 118 can forward the data to the data storagedevice 130 using the disk module 126, thereby accessing volume 1328associated with the data storage device 130.

It may be appreciated that deduplicating encrypted data may beimplemented within the clustered network environment 100. It may beappreciated that deduplicating encrypted data may be implemented forand/or between any type of computing environment, and may betransferrable between physical devices (e.g., node 116, node 118, adesktop computer, a tablet, a laptop, a wearable device, a mobiledevice, a storage device, a server, etc.) and/or a cloud computingenvironment (e.g., remote to the clustered network environment 100).

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of a data storage system 200 (e.g.,102, 104 in FIG. 1), providing further detail of an embodiment ofcomponents that may implement one or more of the techniques and/orsystems described herein. The data storage system 200 comprises a node202 (e.g., nodes 116, 118 in FIG. 1), and a data storage device 234(e.g., data storage devices 128, 130 in FIG. 1). The node 202 may be ageneral purpose computer, for example, or some other computing deviceparticularly configured to operate as a storage server. A host device205 (e.g., 108, 110 in FIG. 1) can be connected to the node 202 over anetwork 216, for example, to provide access to files and/or other datastored on the data storage device 234. In an example, the node 202comprises a storage controller that provides client devices, such as thehost device 205, with access to data stored within data storage device234.

The data storage device 234 can comprise mass storage devices, such asdisks 224, 226, 228 of a disk array 218, 220, 222. It will beappreciated that the techniques and systems, described herein, are notlimited by the example embodiment. For example, disks 224, 226, 228 maycomprise any type of mass storage devices, including but not limited tomagnetic disk drives, flash memory, and any other similar media adaptedto store information, including, for example, data (D) and/or parity (P)information.

The node 202 comprises one or more processors 204, a memory 206, anetwork adapter 210, a cluster access adapter 212, and a storage adapter214 interconnected by a system bus 242. The data storage system 200 alsoincludes an operating system 208 installed in the memory 206 of the node202 that can, for example, implement a Redundant Array of Independent(or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID) optimization technique to optimize areconstruction process of data of a failed disk in an array.

The operating system 208 can also manage communications for the datastorage system, and communications between other data storage systemsthat may be in a clustered network, such as attached to a cluster fabric215 (e.g., 106 in FIG. 1). Thus, the node 202, such as a network storagecontroller, can respond to host device requests to manage data on thedata storage device 234 (e.g., or additional clustered devices) inaccordance with these host device requests. The operating system 208 canoften establish one or more file systems on the data storage system 200,where a file system can include software code and data structures thatimplement a persistent hierarchical namespace of files and directories,for example. As an example, when a new data storage device (not shown)is added to a clustered network system, the operating system 208 isinformed where, in an existing directory tree, new files associated withthe new data storage device are to be stored. This is often referred toas “mounting” a file system.

In the example data storage system 200, memory 206 can include storagelocations that are addressable by the processors 204 and adapters 210,212, 214 for storing related software application code and datastructures. The processors 204 and adapters 210, 212, 214 may, forexample, include processing elements and/or logic circuitry configuredto execute the software code and manipulate the data structures. Theoperating system 208, portions of which are typically resident in thememory 206 and executed by the processing elements, functionallyorganizes the storage system by, among other things, invoking storageoperations in support of a file service implemented by the storagesystem. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that otherprocessing and memory mechanisms, including various computer readablemedia, may be used for storing and/or executing application instructionspertaining to the techniques described herein. For example, theoperating system can also utilize one or more control files (not shown)to aid in the provisioning of virtual machines.

The network adapter 210 includes the mechanical, electrical andsignaling circuitry needed to connect the data storage system 200 to ahost device 205 over a network 216, which may comprise, among otherthings, a point-to-point connection or a shared medium, such as a localarea network. The host device 205 (e.g., 108, 110 of FIG. 1) may be ageneral-purpose computer configured to execute applications. Asdescribed above, the host device 205 may interact with the data storagesystem 200 in accordance with a client/host model of informationdelivery.

The storage adapter 214 cooperates with the operating system 208executing on the node 202 to access information requested by the hostdevice 205 (e.g., access data on a storage device managed by a networkstorage controller). The information may be stored on any type ofattached array of writeable media such as magnetic disk drives, flashmemory, and/or any other similar media adapted to store information. Inthe example data storage system 200, the information can be stored indata blocks on the disks 224, 226, 228. The storage adapter 214 caninclude input/output (I/O) interface circuitry that couples to the disksover an I/O interconnect arrangement, such as a storage area network(SAN) protocol (e.g., Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), iSCSI,hyperSCSI, Fiber Channel Protocol (FCP)). The information is retrievedby the storage adapter 214 and, if necessary, processed by the one ormore processors 204 (or the storage adapter 214 itself) prior to beingforwarded over the system bus 242 to the network adapter 210 (and/or thecluster access adapter 212 if sending to another node in the cluster)where the information is formatted into a data packet and returned tothe host device 205 over the network 216 (and/or returned to anothernode attached to the cluster over the cluster fabric 215).

In an embodiment, storage of information on disk arrays 218, 220, 222can be implemented as one or more storage volumes 230, 232 that arecomprised of a cluster of disks 224, 226, 228 defining an overalllogical arrangement of disk space. The disks 224, 226, 228 that compriseone or more volumes are typically organized as one or more groups ofRAIDs. As an example, volume 230 comprises an aggregate of disk arrays218 and 220, which comprise the cluster of disks 224 and 226.

In an embodiment, to facilitate access to disks 224, 226, 228, theoperating system 208 may implement a file system (e.g., write anywherefile system) that logically organizes the information as a hierarchicalstructure of directories and files on the disks. In this embodiment,respective files may be implemented as a set of disk blocks configuredto store information, whereas directories may be implemented asspecially formatted files in which information about other files anddirectories are stored.

Whatever the underlying physical configuration within this data storagesystem 200, data can be stored as files within physical and/or virtualvolumes, which can be associated with respective volume identifiers,such as file system identifiers (FSIDs), which can be 32-bits in lengthin one example.

A physical volume corresponds to at least a portion of physical storagedevices whose address, addressable space, location, etc. doesn't change,such as at least some of one or more data storage devices 234 (e.g., aRedundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID system)).Typically the location of the physical volume doesn't change in that the(range of) address(es) used to access it generally remains constant.

A virtual volume, in contrast, is stored over an aggregate of disparateportions of different physical storage devices. The virtual volume maybe a collection of different available portions of different physicalstorage device locations, such as some available space from each of thedisks 224, 226, and/or 228. It will be appreciated that since a virtualvolume is not “tied” to any one particular storage device, a virtualvolume can be said to include a layer of abstraction or virtualization,which allows it to be resized and/or flexible in some regards.

Further, a virtual volume can include one or more logical unit numbers(LUNs) 238, directories 236, Qtrees 235, and files 240. Among otherthings, these features, but more particularly LUNS, allow the disparatememory locations within which data is stored to be identified, forexample, and grouped as data storage unit. As such, the LUNs 238 may becharacterized as constituting a virtual disk or drive upon which datawithin the virtual volume is stored within the aggregate. For example,LUNs are often referred to as virtual drives, such that they emulate ahard drive from a general purpose computer, while they actually comprisedata blocks stored in various parts of a volume.

In an embodiment, one or more data storage devices 234 can have one ormore physical ports, wherein each physical port can be assigned a targetaddress (e.g., SCSI target address). To represent respective volumesstored on a data storage device, a target address on the data storagedevice can be used to identify one or more LUNs 238. Thus, for example,when the node 202 connects to a volume 230, 232 through the storageadapter 214, a connection between the node 202 and the one or more LUNs238 underlying the volume is created.

In an embodiment, respective target addresses can identify multipleLUNs, such that a target address can represent multiple volumes. The I/Ointerface, which can be implemented as circuitry and/or software in thestorage adapter 214 or as executable code residing in memory 206 andexecuted by the processors 204, for example, can connect to volume 230by using one or more addresses that identify the one or more LUNs 238.

It may be appreciated that deduplicating encrypted data may beimplemented for the data storage system 200. It may be appreciated thatdeduplicating encrypted data may be implemented for and/or between anytype of computing environment, and may be transferrable between physicaldevices (e.g., node 202, host device 205, a desktop computer, a tablet,a laptop, a wearable device, a mobile device, a storage device, aserver, etc.) and/or a cloud computing environment (e.g., remote to thenode 202 and/or the host device 205).

One embodiment of deduplicating encrypted data is illustrated by anexemplary method 300 of FIG. 3 and further described in conjunction withsystem 400 of FIGS. 4A-4N. A remote data store 404 may be configured tostore data for various users, as illustrated by FIG. 4A. In an example,the remote data store 404 may comprise an untrusted service (e.g., aservice executed by a third party provider as opposed to a servicelocally executing on hardware maintained by a user), such as a cloudcomputing environment. A user may utilize a computing device (e.g., alaptop, a mobile device, a node, a server, a storage controller,dedicated hardware of a business, or any other type of device) toconnect to the remote data store 404 over a network. For example, a user(A) may utilize a computing device 402 to connect to the remote datastore 404 in order to store data 406 (e.g., a video file) within theremote data store 404. At 302, in order to provide for end-to-endencryption, the user (A) may utilize a key 408 to locally encrypt thedata 406 at the computing device 402 to create encrypted data 409, asillustrated by FIG. 4B. The key 408 may be kept secret from the remotedata store 404 and other users that do not have the same data 406.

At 304, the data 406 is hashed to create hashed data 412 and theencrypted data 409 is also hashed to create hashed encrypted data 414,as illustrated by FIG. 4C. The hashed data 412 and the hashed encrypteddata 414 is stored as metadata 410, by the computing device 402 of user(A), which can be subsequently used by the remote data store 404 fordeduplicating subsequent requests to store the data 406 (e.g., the samevideo file) into the remote data store 404 by the user (A) or otherusers.

At 306, a probabilistic data structure 416 of the data 406 is createdfor inclusion within the metadata 410, as illustrated by FIG. 4D. In anexample, the probabilistic data structure 416 comprises a sampling ofthe data 406. The probabilistic data structure 416 may be used to checkin log N time as to whether the data 406 matches other data. In anexample, the probabilistic data structure 416 comprises a bloom filter,a Merkle tree, or other structure of the data 406.

At 308, the key 408 is encrypted based upon the data 406 using anencryption algorithm to create an encrypted key 418 for inclusion withinthe metadata 410, as illustrated by FIG. 4E. The encryption algorithmmay be the same or different than the encryption algorithm used toencrypt the data 406 to create the encrypted data 409. The encrypted key418 is created based upon the data 406 so that another user with thesame data 406 (e.g., the same video file) can use that same data 406 todecrypt the encrypted key 418 in order to access the key 408. Inparticular, the key-encrypting-key is a fixed size sample of data, andthus two users with the same data can end up with the same sample, andthus can exchange keys. However, other users that do not have the samedata 406 will be unable to decrypt the encrypted key 418. In this way,the encrypted key 418 may be provided to other users by the remote datastore 404, after certain verification checks have been successfullyperformed, for performing deduplication to determine whether the otherusers indeed have the same data 406 or not.

At 310, the computing device 402 of user (A) transmits 420 the encrypteddata 409 and the metadata 410 to the remote data store 404, asillustrated by FIG. 4F. The remote data store 404 may store theencrypted data 409 for subsequent retrieval by the user (A). The remotedata store 404 may store the metadata 410 for subsequent deduplicationof requests received from the user (A) or other users that areattempting to store the same data 406 (e.g., the same video file) intothe remote data store 404. That is, the hashed data 412, the hashedencrypted data 414, the encrypted key 418, and the probabilistic datastructure 416 within the metadata 410 can be used by the remote datastore 404 and another device to determine whether the other device isattempting to store the same data 406 into the remote data store 404.Instead of redundantly storing the same data 406, the remote data store404 will instead store a reference for the other device to the encrypteddata 409 so that the other device can also access the encrypted data409. An example of the remote data store 404 performing deduplicationusing the metadata 410 is described with reference to FIGS. 4G-4N.

A second computing device 430 of a user (B) may be attempting to storedata 406 (e.g., the same video file) to the remote data store 404, asillustrated by FIG. 4G. As opposed to transmitting the data 406 or anencrypted version of the data 406 to the remote data store 404, thesecond computing device 430 of user (B) and the remote data store 404may utilize the metadata 410 to determine whether the data 406 of thesecond computing device 430 of user (B) is indeed the same as the data406 of the computing device 402 of the user (A) that is stored as theencrypted data 409 within the remote data store 404. Accordingly, thesecond computing device 430 hashes the data 406 to create hashed data434. The second computing device 430 transmits the hashed data 434 tothe remote data store 404.

The remote data store 404 may determine whether the hashed data 434generated by the second computing device 430 of user (B) matches thehashed data 412 within the metadata 410 generated by the computingdevice 402 of user (A). If the hashed data 434 does not match the hasheddata 412 within the metadata 410 (or any other hashed data withinmetadata maintained by the remote data store 404 for deduplication),then the remote data store 404 may instruct the second computing device430 to transmit the data 406 or an encrypted version of the data 406 tothe remote data store 404 for storage (e.g., the data 406 of the secondcomputing device 430 may pertain to a different video file or some otherdata such as an image). If the hashed data 434 matches the hashed data412 within the metadata 410, then the remote data store 404 transmits arequest 436 to the second computing device 430 for indices of the data406 because the data 406 of the second computing device 430 of the user(B) could be potentially the same as the data 406 stored by thecomputing device 402 of the user (A) as the encrypted data 409 withinthe remote data store 404 because the hashed data 434 matched the hasheddata 412 within the metadata 410, as illustrated by FIG. 4H.

Upon receiving the request 436 from the remote data store 404, thesecond computing device 430 identifies the indices 438 of the data 406,as illustrated by FIG. 4I. The indices 438 may correspond to offsets ofthe data 406 (e.g., offset 100, offset 200, etc.). In an example, theindices 438 may be stored within the Merkle tree, the bloom filter, orother structure. The second computing device 430 transmits the indices438, such as the Merkle tree, to the remote data store 404 for furtherevaluation as to whether the data 406 of the second computing device 430of the user (B) could be potentially the same as the data 406 stored bythe computing device 402 of the user (A) as the encrypted data 409within the remote data store 404.

The remote data store 404 may determine whether the indices 438 matchthe probabilistic data structure 416. Since the indices 438 are derivedfrom the data 406 stored by the second computing device 430 (e.g., theindices 438 are derived from offsets of the data 406) and theprobabilistic data structure 416 is derived from the data 406 (e.g.,comprises a sample of the data 406) stored by the first computing device402, the data 406 maintained by the second computing device 430 of theuser (B) could potentially be the same as the data 406 stored bycomputing device 402 of user (A) as the encrypted data 409 within theremote data store 404. Otherwise, if the indices 438 do not match theprobabilistic data structure 416 within the metadata 410 (or any otherprobabilistic data structures within metadata maintained by the remotedata store 404 for deduplication), then the remote data store 404 mayinstruct the second computing device 430 to transmit an encryptedversion of the data 406 to the remote data store 404 for storage. Thisis because the data 406 maintained by the second computing device 430 ofthe user (B) is not a duplicate of the data 406 stored by the computingdevice 402 of user (A) as the encrypted data 409 within the remote datastore 404 (e.g., the data 406 of the second computing device 430 maypertain to a different video file or some other data such as an image).

Based upon the indices 438 matching the probabilistic data structure416, the remote data store 404 may have established enough confidencethat the data 406 stored by the second computing device 430 of user (B)could be the same as the data 406 stored by the computing device of user(A) as the encrypted data 409 within the remote data store 404.Accordingly, the remote data store 404 transmits the encrypted key 418from the metadata 410 to the second computing device 430 of the user(B), as illustrated by FIG. 4J. The encrypted key 418 was created by thecomputing device 402 of user (A) based upon the data 406, such as afixed size sample of the data 406, maintained by the computing device402 of user (A). Thus, if the second computing device 430 of user (B)has the same data 406, then the second computing device 430 can use thesame data 406 to decrypt the encrypted key 418 to obtain the key 408used by the computing device 402 of user (A) to create the encrypteddata 409 stored by the computing device 402 of user (A) to the remotedata store 404, as illustrated by FIG. 4K. Otherwise, if the secondcomputing device 430 of user (B) is unable to decrypt the encrypted key418 using the data 406, then the second computing device 430 maytransmit the data 406 or an encrypted version of the data 406 to theremote data store 404 for storage. This is because the data 406maintained by the second computing device 430 of the user (B) is not aduplicated of the data 406 stored by the computing device 402 of user(A) as the encrypted data 409 within the remote data store 404 (e.g.,the data 406 of the second computing device 430 may pertain to adifferent video file or some other data such as an image).

If the second computing device 430 is able to decrypt the encrypted key418 to obtain the key 408, then the second computing device 430 uses thekey 408 to encrypt the data 406 to create encrypted data 409, asillustrated by FIG. 4L. The encrypted data 409 is hashed to create ahash 414 of the encrypted data 409, as illustrated by FIG. 4M. Asopposed to transmitting the entire encrypted data 409 to the remote datastore 404 which wastes network bandwidth, the second computing device430 transmits the hash 414 of the encrypted data 409 to the remote datastore 404.

The remote data store 404 compares the hash 414 of the encrypted data409 received from the second computing device 430 to the hash 414 of theencrypted data 409 within the metadata 410. If there is a match, thenthe remote data store 404 makes a final determination that the data 406maintained by the second computing device 430 of user (B) is indeed aduplicate of the data 406 stored by the first computing device 402 ofuser (A) as the encrypted data 409 within the remote data store 404.Instead of requesting the encrypted data 409 (and/or the data 406) fromthe second computing device 430, the remote data store 404 transmits amessage 440 to the second computing device 430, as illustrated by FIG.4N. The message 440 indicates that the data 406 maintained by the secondcomputing device 430 has been deduplicated and is already stored withinthe remote data store 404 as the encrypted data 409. The message 440instructs the second computing device 430 to not send the encrypted data409 and/or the data 406 because the encrypted data 409 is already storedby the remote data store 404. The remote data store 404 may increment areference count for the encrypted data 409 to indicate that the user (B)is also an owner of the encrypted data 409. In this way, both the user(A) and the user (B) are provided with access to the encrypted data 409,which remains encrypted over the network and in the untrustedthird-party remote storage node/server to provide end-to-end encryption,while still being deduplicated by the remote data store 404 for storagesavings.

Still another embodiment involves a computer-readable medium 500comprising processor-executable instructions configured to implement oneor more of the techniques presented herein. An example embodiment of acomputer-readable medium or a computer-readable device that is devisedin these ways is illustrated in FIG. 5, wherein the implementationcomprises a computer-readable medium 508, such as a compactdisc-recordable (CD-R), a digital versatile disc-recordable (DVD-R),flash drive, a platter of a hard disk drive, etc., on which is encodedcomputer-readable data 506. This computer-readable data 506, such asbinary data comprising at least one of a zero or a one, in turncomprises a processor-executable computer instructions 504 configured tooperate according to one or more of the principles set forth herein. Insome embodiments, the processor-executable computer instructions 504 areconfigured to perform a method 502, such as at least some of theexemplary method 300 of FIG. 3, for example. In some embodiments, theprocessor-executable computer instructions 504 are configured toimplement a system, such as at least some of the exemplary system 400 ofFIGS. 4A-4N, for example. Many such computer-readable media arecontemplated to operate in accordance with the techniques presentedherein.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example operating environment 600 inwhich an embodiment of the techniques described herein may beimplemented. In one example, the techniques described herein may beimplemented within a client device 628, such as a laptop, tablet,personal computer, mobile device, wearable device, etc. In anotherexample, the techniques described herein may be implemented within astorage controller 630, such as a node configured to manage the storageand access to data on behalf of the client device 628 and/or otherclient devices. In another example, the techniques described herein maybe implemented within a distributed computing platform 602 such as acloud computing environment (e.g., a cloud storage environment, amulti-tenant platform, etc.) configured to manage the storage and accessto data on behalf of the client device 628 and/or other client devices.

In yet another example, at least some of the techniques described hereinare implemented across one or more of the client device 628, the storagecontroller 630, and the distributed computing platform 602. For example,the client device 628 may transmit operations, such as data operationsto read data and write data and metadata operations (e.g., a create fileoperation, a rename directory operation, a resize operation, a setattribute operation, etc.), over a network 626 to the storage controller630 for implementation by the storage controller 630 upon storage. Thestorage controller 630 may store data associated with the operationswithin volumes or other data objects/structures hosted within locallyattached storage, remote storage hosted by other computing devicesaccessible over the network 626, storage provided by the distributedcomputing platform 602, etc. The storage controller 630 may replicatethe data and/or the operations to other computing devices so that one ormore replicas, such as a destination storage volume that is maintainedas a replica of a source storage volume, are maintained. Such replicascan be used for disaster recovery and failover.

The storage controller 630 may store the data or a portion thereofwithin storage hosted by the distributed computing platform 602 bytransmitting the data to the distributed computing platform 602. In oneexample, the storage controller 630 may locally store frequentlyaccessed data within locally attached storage. Less frequently accesseddata may be transmitted to the distributed computing platform 602 forstorage within a data storage tier 608. The data storage tier 608 maystore data within a service data store 620, and may store clientspecific data within client data stores assigned to such clients such asa client (1) data store 622 used to store data of a client (1) and aclient (N) data store 624 used to store data of a client (N). The datastores may be physical storage devices or may be defined as logicalstorage, such as a virtual volume, LUNs, or other logical organizationsof data that can be defined across one or more physical storage devices.In another example, the storage controller 630 transmits and stores allclient data to the distributed computing platform 602. In yet anotherexample, the client device 628 transmits and stores the data directly tothe distributed computing platform 602 without the use of the storagecontroller 630.

The management of storage and access to data can be performed by one ormore storage virtual machines (SMVs) or other storage applications thatprovide software as a service (SaaS) such as storage software services.In one example, an SVM may be hosted within the client device 628,within the storage controller 630, or within the distributed computingplatform 602 such as by the application server tier 606. In anotherexample, one or more SVMs may be hosted across one or more of the clientdevice 628, the storage controller 630, and the distributed computingplatform 602.

In one example of the distributed computing platform 602, one or moreSVMs may be hosted by the application server tier 606. For example, aserver (1) 616 is configured to host SVMs used to execute applicationssuch as storage applications that manage the storage of data of theclient (1) within the client (1) data store 622. Thus, an SVM executingon the server (1) 616 may receive data and/or operations from the clientdevice 628 and/or the storage controller 630 over the network 626. TheSVM executes a storage application to process the operations and/orstore the data within the client (1) data store 622. The SVM maytransmit a response back to the client device 628 and/or the storagecontroller 630 over the network 626, such as a success message or anerror message. In this way, the application server tier 606 may hostSVMs, services, and/or other storage applications using the server (1)616, the server (N) 618, etc.

A user interface tier 604 of the distributed computing platform 602 mayprovide the client device 628 and/or the storage controller 630 withaccess to user interfaces associated with the storage and access of dataand/or other services provided by the distributed computing platform602. In an example, a service user interface 610 may be accessible fromthe distributed computing platform 602 for accessing services subscribedto by clients and/or storage controllers, such as data replicationservices, application hosting services, data security services, humanresource services, warehouse tracking services, accounting services,etc. For example, client user interfaces may be provided tocorresponding clients, such as a client (1) user interface 612, a client(N) user interface 614, etc. The client (1) can access various servicesand resources subscribed to by the client (1) through the client (1)user interface 612, such as access to a web service, a developmentenvironment, a human resource application, a warehouse trackingapplication, and/or other services and resources provided by theapplication server tier 606, which may use data stored within the datastorage tier 608.

The client device 628 and/or the storage controller 630 may subscribe tocertain types and amounts of services and resources provided by thedistributed computing platform 602. For example, the client device 628may establish a subscription to have access to three virtual machines, acertain amount of storage, a certain type/amount of data redundancy, acertain type/amount of data security, certain service level agreements(SLAs) and service level objectives (SLOs), latency guarantees,bandwidth guarantees, access to execute or host certain applications,etc. Similarly, the storage controller 630 can establish a subscriptionto have access to certain services and resources of the distributedcomputing platform 602.

As shown, a variety of clients, such as the client device 628 and thestorage controller 630, incorporating and/or incorporated into a varietyof computing devices may communicate with the distributed computingplatform 602 through one or more networks, such as the network 626. Forexample, a client may incorporate and/or be incorporated into a clientapplication (e.g., software) implemented at least in part by one or moreof the computing devices.

Examples of suitable computing devices include personal computers,server computers, desktop computers, nodes, storage servers, storagecontrollers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers orpersonal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, cell phones, andconsumer electronic devices incorporating one or more computing devicecomponents, such as one or more electronic processors, microprocessors,central processing units (CPU), or controllers. Examples of suitablenetworks include networks utilizing wired and/or wireless communicationtechnologies and networks operating in accordance with any suitablenetworking and/or communication protocol (e.g., the Internet). In usecases involving the delivery of customer support services, the computingdevices noted represent the endpoint of the customer support deliveryprocess, i.e., the consumer's device.

The distributed computing platform 602, such as a multi-tenant businessdata processing platform or cloud computing environment, may includemultiple processing tiers, including the user interface tier 604, theapplication server tier 606, and a data storage tier 608. The userinterface tier 604 may maintain multiple user interfaces, includinggraphical user interfaces and/or web-based interfaces. The userinterfaces may include the service user interface 610 for a service toprovide access to applications and data for a client (e.g., a “tenant”)of the service, as well as one or more user interfaces that have beenspecialized/customized in accordance with user specific requirements,which may be accessed via one or more APIs.

The service user interface 610 may include components enabling a tenantto administer the tenant's participation in the functions andcapabilities provided by the distributed computing platform 602, such asaccessing data, causing execution of specific data processingoperations, etc. Each processing tier may be implemented with a set ofcomputers, virtualized computing environments such as a storage virtualmachine or storage virtual server, and/or computer components includingcomputer servers and processors, and may perform various functions,methods, processes, or operations as determined by the execution of asoftware application or set of instructions.

The data storage tier 608 may include one or more data stores, which mayinclude the service data store 620 and one or more client data stores.Each client data store may contain tenant-specific data that is used aspart of providing a range of tenant-specific business and storageservices or functions, including but not limited to ERP, CRM, eCommerce,Human Resources management, payroll, storage services, etc. Data storesmay be implemented with any suitable data storage technology, includingstructured query language (SQL) based relational database managementsystems (RDBMS), file systems hosted by operating systems, objectstorage, etc.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the distributedcomputing platform 602 may be a multi-tenant and service platformoperated by an entity in order to provide multiple tenants with a set ofbusiness related applications, data storage, and functionality. Theseapplications and functionality may include ones that a business uses tomanage various aspects of its operations. For example, the applicationsand functionality may include providing web-based access to businessinformation systems, thereby allowing a user with a browser and anInternet or intranet connection to view, enter, process, or modifycertain types of business information or any other type of information.

In an embodiment, the described methods and/or their equivalents may beimplemented with computer executable instructions. Thus, In anembodiment, a non-transitory computer readable/storage medium isconfigured with stored computer executable instructions of analgorithm/executable application that when executed by a machine(s)cause the machine(s) (and/or associated components) to perform themethod. Example machines include but are not limited to a processor, acomputer, a server operating in a cloud computing system, a serverconfigured in a Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture, a smartphone, and so on). In an embodiment, a computing device is implementedwith one or more executable algorithms that are configured to performany of the disclosed methods.

It will be appreciated that processes, architectures and/or proceduresdescribed herein can be implemented in hardware, firmware and/orsoftware. It will also be appreciated that the provisions set forthherein may apply to any type of special-purpose computer (e.g., filehost, storage server and/or storage serving appliance) and/orgeneral-purpose computer, including a standalone computer or portionthereof, embodied as or including a storage system. Moreover, theteachings herein can be configured to a variety of storage systemarchitectures including, but not limited to, a network-attached storageenvironment and/or a storage area network and disk assembly directlyattached to a client or host computer. Storage system should thereforebe taken broadly to include such arrangements in addition to anysubsystems configured to perform a storage function and associated withother equipment or systems.

In some embodiments, methods described and/or illustrated in thisdisclosure may be realized in whole or in part on computer-readablemedia. Computer readable media can include processor-executableinstructions configured to implement one or more of the methodspresented herein, and may include any mechanism for storing this datathat can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of computerreadable media include (hard) drives (e.g., accessible via networkattached storage (NAS)), Storage Area Networks (SAN), volatile andnon-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM) and/or flash memory, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM)s,CD-Rs, compact disk re-writeable (CD-RW)s, DVDs, cassettes, magnetictape, magnetic disk storage, optical or non-optical data storage devicesand/or any other medium which can be used to store data.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features or methodological acts, it is to be understood thatthe subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, thespecific features and acts described above are disclosed as exampleforms of implementing at least some of the claims.

Various operations of embodiments are provided herein. The order inwhich some or all of the operations are described should not beconstrued to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. Alternative ordering will be appreciated given the benefit ofthis description. Further, it will be understood that not all operationsare necessarily present in each embodiment provided herein. Also, itwill be understood that not all operations are necessary in someembodiments.

Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is implemented as a method,apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard application orengineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or anycombination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosedsubject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein isintended to encompass a computer application accessible from anycomputer-readable device, carrier, or media. Of course, manymodifications may be made to this configuration without departing fromthe scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.

As used in this application, the terms “component”, “module,” “system”,“interface”, and the like are generally intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentincludes a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, anexecutable, a thread of execution, an application, or a computer. By wayof illustration, both an application running on a controller and thecontroller can be a component. One or more components residing within aprocess or thread of execution and a component may be localized on onecomputer or distributed between two or more computers.

Moreover, “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, illustration, etc., and not necessarily as advantageous. Asused in this application, “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or”rather than an exclusive “or”. In addition, “a” and “an” as used in thisapplication are generally be construed to mean “one or more” unlessspecified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singularform. Also, at least one of A and B and/or the like generally means A orB and/or both A and B. Furthermore, to the extent that “includes”,“having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereof are used, such terms areintended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising”.

Many modifications may be made to the instant disclosure withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter. Unlessspecified otherwise, “first,” “second,” or the like are not intended toimply a temporal aspect, a spatial aspect, an ordering, etc. Rather,such terms are merely used as identifiers, names, etc. for features,elements, items, etc. For example, a first set of information and asecond set of information generally correspond to set of information Aand set of information B or two different or two identical sets ofinformation or the same set of information.

Also, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respectto one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modificationswill occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading andunderstanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. Thedisclosure includes all such modifications and alterations and islimited only by the scope of the following claims. In particular regardto the various functions performed by the above described components(e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms used to describe suchcomponents are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, toany component which performs the specified function of the describedcomponent (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though notstructurally equivalent to the disclosed structure. In addition, while aparticular feature of the disclosure may have been disclosed withrespect to only one of several implementations, such feature may becombined with one or more other features of the other implementations asmay be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request from aclient device to store data within a remote data store, wherein therequest comprises hashed data corresponding to a hash of the data; inresponse to the hashed data matching stored hashed data within metadatamaintained by the remote data store, requesting hashed encrypted datafrom the client device; storing a reference for the client device toencrypted data stored within the remote data store based upon the hashedencrypted data matching stored hashed encrypted data within themetadata; and transmitting an indication to the client device that thedata has been deduplicated with respect to the encrypted data storedwithin the remote data store.
 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:incrementing a reference count maintained by the remote data store forthe encrypted data to indicate that the data is deduplicated withrespect to the encrypted data.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thereference for the client device to the encrypted data is stored withinthe remote data store in place of storing an encrypted version of thedata.
 4. The method of claim 1, comprising: incrementing a referencecount for the encrypted data to indicate that the client device is anowner of the encrypted data.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thereference count comprises a count corresponding to a number of owners ofthe encrypted data.
 6. The method of claim 1, comprising: transmittingthe indication to the client device with an instruction to refrain fromsending an encrypted version of the data to store within the remote datastore because the encrypted version of the data is already stored as theencrypted data within the remote data store.
 7. The method of claim 1,comprising: in response to the hashed encrypted data not matching thestored hashed encrypted data within the metadata, transmitting a requestto the client device to send an encrypted version of the data forstorage within the remote data store.
 8. A non-transitory machinereadable medium comprising instructions for performing a method, whichwhen executed by a machine, causes the machine to: receive a requestfrom a client device to store data within a remote data store, whereinthe request comprises hashed data corresponding to a hash of the data;in response to the hashed data matching stored hashed data withinmetadata maintained by the remote data store, request hashed encrypteddata from the client device; store a reference for the client device toencrypted data stored within the remote data store based upon the hashedencrypted data matching stored hashed encrypted data within themetadata; and transmit an indication to the client device that the datahas been deduplicated with respect to the encrypted data stored withinthe remote data store.
 9. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the instructions cause the machine to: increment areference count maintained by the remote data store for the encrypteddata to indicate that the data is deduplicated with respect to theencrypted data.
 10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim8, wherein the reference for the client device to the encrypted data isstored within the remote data store in place of storing an encryptedversion of the data.
 11. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the instructions cause the machine to: increment areference count for the encrypted data to indicate that the clientdevice is an owner of the encrypted data.
 12. The non-transitory machinereadable medium of claim 11, wherein the reference count comprises acount corresponding to a number of owners of the encrypted data.
 13. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions cause the machine to: transmit the indication to the clientdevice with an instruction to refrain from sending an encrypted versionof the data to store within the remote data store because the encryptedversion of the data is already stored as the encrypted data within theremote data store.
 14. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the instructions cause the machine to: in response tothe hashed encrypted data not matching the stored hashed encrypted datawithin the metadata, transmit a request to the client device to send anencrypted version of the data for storage within the remote data store.15. A computing device comprising: a memory comprising machineexecutable code for performing a method; and a processor coupled to thememory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable codeto cause the processor to: receive a request from a client device tostore data within a remote data store, wherein the request compriseshashed data corresponding to a hash of the data; in response to thehashed data matching stored hashed data within metadata maintained bythe remote data store, request hashed encrypted data from the clientdevice; store a reference for the client device to encrypted data storedwithin the remote data store based upon the hashed encrypted datamatching stored hashed encrypted data within the metadata; and transmitan indication to the client device that the data has been deduplicatedwith respect to the encrypted data stored within the remote data store.16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the machine executablecode causes the processor to: in response to the hashed encrypted datanot matching the stored hashed encrypted data within the metadata,transmit a request to the client device to send an encrypted version ofthe data for storage within the remote data store.
 17. The computingdevice of claim 15, wherein the machine executable code causes theprocessor to: increment a reference count maintained by the remote datastore for the encrypted data to indicate that the data is deduplicatedwith respect to the encrypted data.
 18. The computing device of claim15, wherein the reference for the client device to the encrypted data isstored within the remote data store in place of storing an encryptedversion of the data.
 19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein themachine executable code causes the processor to: increment a referencecount for the encrypted data to indicate that the client device is anowner of the encrypted data.
 20. The computing device of claim 19,wherein the reference count comprises a count corresponding to a numberof owners of the encrypted data.